Friday, December 18, 2009

Stuffed Button Squash Flowers

I'm keeping the festive feeling going for this edition of Weekend Herb Blogging with the rather out of worldly looking, button squash flowers

It does look a little like a jellyfish but you might also know that yellow UFO as pattypan squash. Much like the zucchini flowers I've posted about in the past these are made to be stuffed.

Though, when you open up the flower, they do look almost too pretty to eat.

There is a practical reason for this photo, before stuffing you will need to remove the pistil, it does come off with a simple twist.

To stuff these flowers, I've opted for a delicate filling that won't overpower the flavour of the squash, a combination of ricotta, goat cheese and parmesan. They are then dipped in a light batter and deep fried until crisp and warmed through.

I'm not going to give precise measurements as it really needs to be done to taste. For both the goat cheese and the ricotta I push them through a metal sieve first, this makes the mixing easier. Roughly I would use 50% ricotta, then 30% goat and 20% parmesan, the aim is to get a mix where not one cheese dominates. I also like to use soft herbs like chives but in this version I've used watercress pesto.

Once the cheese and herbs have been mixed together, place it into a piping bag and you're ready to fill the flowers.

Prepare the flowers:

It's important to be gentle when removing the pistil - the petals will fold back and are quite pliable. Break off the pistil as close to the base as you can, don't twist too hard or you could end up separating the flower from the squash. Only do this when you are ready to fill the flowers as they will start to wilt quickly.

Pipe the stuffing into the flowers - don't overfill - there must be enough of the petals remaining to twist and encase the cheese.

Once stuffed, place them in the fridge while you make the batter.

Make the batter:

The key to this crisp batter is ice cold water - fill a jug with ice and then top up with cold water.
Place the egg and flour into a bowl and whisk, pouring in enough of the iced water to create a thin batter - it should be pouring cream consistency.

Once the batter is made - time to deep fry the flowers.

Dip the stuffed squash into the batter and pull out, letting as much of the excess batter run off - glide them into the oil, button squash side first - let it sizzle for a few seconds before releasing the rest into the oil.

They'll only take about 30 seconds or so each side to cook through. When done, place on paper towels to remove any excess oil.

Serve them while still hot - a picture perfect example of finger food.

There's still plenty of time to join in this week - just get your entries in to me by